Turkey had apprehended and extradited ISIS bomber Ibrahim El Ahlavi not once but twice. He walked free, only to join cohorts and stage terrorist attacks in Brussels, a city where I lived happily for four years. Nowhere is safe because the world has yet to agree and act on five fundamental realisations.
First, terrorist is a terrorist, not a freedom fighter. The cause does not justify the means. There is, of course, no consensus on the definition of terrorism and the term can be subject to much abuse. The UN work on adopting a convention on international terrorism has been failing since 2000 due to lack of a consensus definition. Terrorists kill with a political purpose. If they had the power and popular support, they would form armies and attack the regular army of the nation that they target. They don’t have that power nor support. So, they stage terrorism to instil fear and doubt among the populations towards their governments whose first and foremost duty and function is to protect their citizens. Even if you support the cause, you still cannot end up supporting the means. We live in a world where terrorists targeting one country can be tolerated in another. Or worse, that they can be wielded deliberately against another. Turkey, for one, has been suffering both these unenviable scenarios while it is fighting various terror outfits. PKK set up a tent in Brussels on the day ISIS blew up the airport. The terrorists abuse the loopholes that emerge as a result of the democratic nations’ imperative to strike a balance between individual rights and liberties, and extant security imperatives. Nonetheless, ‘if he doesn’t kill or hurt me, he is not a terrorist’ approach emboldens terrorism. Only a zero tolerance to all terrorism worldwide can succeed. Else, one would sooner or later discover painfully that no one is immune.
Secondly, one can only fight terrorism through effective international cooperation. I underline ‘effective’ because you simply cannot afford to set the likes of El Ahlavi free. I also underline ‘international’ because terrorist organisations are transnational in their support and operational base. Without effective international cooperation in sharing and acting on intelligence, providing domestic and international legal instruments, denying shelter, funding, arms and moral support, addressing dynamics of radicalisation, terrorism as a means cannot be defeated. Impunity ends up justifying that method among the sympathisers of all causes. This point can be the basis of international cooperation. Helping other states to defeat terrorists should form sufficient basis to expect support when one or the other terrorist targets you, as they will.
Thirdly, we must educate the masses that the most effective struggle is political struggle, not terrorism. When an idea comes of age, it becomes unstoppable. The classic Indian principle of ahimsa should be taught to masses alongside the myriad examples of political advocacy. If you think you have a justifiable cause, then there must be political means to pursue it. The costs of political struggles can be high, but compare that to blowing up yourself and others.
Fourth, the situation in Western Asia has been untenable and now has gone haywire. Particularly but not solely, what began as a Syrian war against its own people has created a chaotic breeding and staging ground for terrorism. A balance must be brought to this region afflicted by failed states, bad governance, dictatorships, emerging secteraniasm, outside meddling and proxy wars.
Last but not least, European peace and wealth is contingent on its relationship with the world. Europe should condescend less, do more—on one side, to help us stabilise Europe’s neighborhood and on the other, to find a way to integrate and reconcile with its migrant populations.
As sociologist Ulrich Beck pointed out, terrorists remind us that we are all living in a global society of risk. We are united in our fear and repulsion. In the globalised world, the risk of a catastrophe should instil the reflex of cosmopolitan, transnational solidarity and cooperation. Every loss of life to terrorism is a catastrophe for all humanity and must be dealt as such.
Burak Akcapar is a Turkish ambassador, professor and author. You can follow him on his twitter handle @akcapar.
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